CONTENTS

The House plenary has adopted unanimously a resolution on the Cyprus
problem, calling on the European Parliament and the national
parliaments of the EU member states to exert pressure on Ankara in
order to contribute to efforts for a solution of the Cyprus problem.
The resolution was adopted during the last plenary session ahead of
Mays parliamentary elections.

In the resolution, the House states that the Turkish side is to be
blamed for the lack of progress in the ongoing UN-led direct talks
because the proposals it puts forward at the negotiating table are not
in line with the agreed framework of the negotiations as provided by UN
resolutions and decisions, international law and European principles.
MPs note the fact that no substantial progress has been made despite
all the efforts made by the Greek Cypriot side.

The resolution stresses that the Cyprus problem is a problem of
invasion and occupation, of violation of human rights and freedoms of
the whole of the Cyprus people and violation of international and
European law. The MPs underline the need for a just and viable
solution, based on UN resolutions, the 1977 and 1979 High Level
Agreements between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot
communities providing for a bizonal bicommunal federation, EU law, a
solution that will reunify all the people of Cyprus.

The President of the House of Representatives Marios Garoyian has
called on voters to go to the polls in next months parliamentary
elections, following recent surveys suggesting that the coming
elections will be marked by high abstention.

``The parliamentary elections of May 22 take place at a time when
Cyprus faces serious problems,`` Garoyian said, addressing the last
House plenary session before the elections, adding ``the Cyprus problem
is in a particularly delicate and crucial phase and the consequences of
the global financial crisis create new pressing problems to the Cypriot
economy and the Cypriot people.`` ``Abstaining from the elections means
refraining from assuming responsibility. It means abolishing the most
important right the citizens have,`` he added.

Garoyian called on the young people to ``take the country`s future in
their own hands,`` noting that they have many options. ``There is the
rewarding vote, the punishing vote, the rejecting vote; the applauding
vote, the vote of support, the vote of criticism and the correcting
vote. They will decide, but surely abstention is not a responsible
option,`` he added.

Defence Minister Costas Papacostas has expressed the conviction that a
House Committee report on the Cyprus File will help establish, in a
documented manner, the facts that led to the 1974 Turkish invasion.
Papacostas was speaking at a special ceremony at the Ministry of
Defence during which he was handed a copy of the report by the Chairman
of the House Committee on the Cyprus File, Marinos Sizopoulos.

Papacostas said the report will help people learn, in a documented
manner, exactly what happened prior to the events that led to the 1974
Turkish invasion.

Sizopoulos said that the delivery of the report is an expression of the
Committees appreciation for the important contribution of the Minister
of Defence and the leadership of the National Guard to the work done by
the Committee on the file of Cyprus. He also noted tha the report was
delivered on the anniversary of 21st of April, 1967 when a coup d` etat
overthrew the legal government in Greece.